1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method for storing position data, in particular for use in a navigation and/or road information service system.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Recently, road information service systems have been developed which are intended to assist the driver of a vehicle in searching for his route to the destination and/or in selecting the best travel route.
For example, navigation systems are known in which the driver enters the positions of the start and destination before starting to drive, and these are then transmitted by a telecommunications unit, for example a mobile telephone, to a central service provider. There, possibly taking account of the current traffic situation, a suitable travel route is composed and is transmitted to the user""s terminal in which the data for the travel route are stored.
In order to allow the travel route information to be displayed as a function of the respective vehicle position in order to assist the driver, the vehicle position is detected using integrated navigation, or is provided from a GPS module.
Furthermore, a traffic information service is already known (T-Mobil Service Specification for the Traffic Information Service, in particular page 12 and page 39), in which a vehicle user can call the current traffic situation from a control centre on his way from a start position to his destination.
The traffic information request which is required for this purpose and is transmitted from a terminal which is used as the user unit, via, for example, a radio network to a control centre, is in this case essentially composed of the destination position and the start position. The destination position and start position must in this case be in a specific data format, which is called Geocode.
In order to compose the traffic information request, the user first of all selects the destination from a Geocode town list stored in the terminal or from a personal address book which is likewise stored in the terminal. If the destination is selected from the address book, the coordinates of the address must be converted to the appropriate Geocode. The start position is then entered, for which purpose the user can either confirm as the start position the current position, which can be confirmed, for example, with the aid of a GPS module, or the user makes use of the option of specifying a start position from the Geocode town list or from his personal address book, in which case, once again, the coordinates of the address from the address book must be converted to the appropriate Geocode.
Once the completely composed traffic information request has been transmitted to the control centre, the start position and destination position are used there to determine a selection region for which the current traffic information is composed.
Current traffic information composed for the selection region is then transmitted to the terminal, where it is displayed and stored.
Although, with this system, entering and/or selecting a destination position from a personal address book considerably improves the use of the system, particularly for routes which are travelled over frequently, it is tedious to enter the addresses in the address book, since the normal postal addresses must be stored, with the town, road, house number in a Geocode or in a position data format which can be converted to Geocode. This requires appropriate maps and/or tables, so that large amounts of data must be stored in each terminal or must be accessible, for example, via a CD-ROM.
With this in mind, the invention is based on the object of providing a method for storing position data, in particular for use in a navigation and/or road information service system, which considerably simplifies the storage of position data, in particular for entering position data for setting up an electronically stored address book.
This object is achieved by the method according to claim 1. Advantageous refinements of the invention are described in the dependent claims.
Thus, the invention provides a method for entering position data in a road information service system, in which method the current position is detected with the aid of a position-finding system, the current position is allocated a title and the current position is stored with the allocated title such that the stored position can be selected with the aid of the associated title in order to be used, in particular, as a destination position in a navigation and/or road information service system.
The method according to the invention thus allows the position data for any desired point at which a terminal of a navigation or road information service system is located to be stored electronically in a list without the position data having to be entered in a tedious manner. This allows the use of the navigation or road information service system to be considerably simplified and to be made more user-friendly.
The invention advantageously provides in this case for a satellite-supported position-finding system, in particular the GPS (Global Positioning System) to be used to detect the current position.
If the position data are intended to be used in a single information service system or in a number of information service systems which use the same position data format, then it is expedient if the position data for the detected position are converted, before being stored, into a data format which is suitable for the respective road information service system.
However, for use of the position data, it can also be advantageous if the position data for the detected position are stored in the data format provided by the position-finding system.
If, for example, the position data stored in an address book are intended to be used both in a traffic information service system which uses a specific Geocode with relatively low position accuracy and in a navigation system which provides high position accuracy, then the position data supplied from the satellite-supported position-finding system, that is to say by the GPS module, for example, are stored in this data format. The conversion to the respectively required data formats, that is to say to the Geocode for the traffic information service system or to a format which is suitable for the navigation system, is then in each case carried out after selection of the corresponding address.
In order to produce a user-specific address book, it is expedient for it to be possible to select the title which is to be allocated to the current position. This allows the position data to be stored electronically, together with any desired name, which can be predefined freely or is at least selectable, in a list which represents the personal address book and from which the position data for any desired stored points can then be selected.
An advantageous refinement of the invention provides that the title is entered via an input unit, and is thus selected.
In this case, the title can expediently be entered as an alphanumeric character string via a keyboard. This gives the user the option of freely creating the designations of the respective positions in the address book which he has himself composed, using an individual scheme.
The same option for designing his address book is provided for the user if the method according to the invention is distinguished by the title being entered as an alphanumeric character strip, in that the letters and numbers are selected individually from a list.
This refinement of the invention allows the terminal used by the information service user to have a simple hardware design. In this case it is, in particular, possible for the alphanumeric characters to be selected from the list by means of a turn-and-push controller.
One particularly convenient refinement of the invention is distinguished by the fact that the title can be selected from an existing list of names and/or designations. In this case, it is particularly expedient if the existing list is a stored telephone directory of a telecommunications unit which is used for data interchange with a control centre of the information service system, in which case, after selecting a name from the stored telephone directory as the designation of the detected position, its position data are linked to the selected telephone directory entry.
In order further to simplify the implementation of the method according to the invention, the existing list may comprise predefined terms from which a title can be selected. In this case, terms such as xe2x80x9capartmentxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cworkxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cofficexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cfemalefriendxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cmalefriendxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cparentsxe2x80x9d etc. are predefined as a title for specific position data, so that the user just needs to select one of these terms in order to designate a corresponding position if he wants to save himself the effort of entering a freely selected title. However, this procedure is also advantageous if the method according to the invention is intended to be implemented by using a particularly simple terminal in terms of hardware, that is to say a terminal with a user interface comprising as few control elements as possible.
A particularly advantageous refinement of the invention provides for the current position when stationary to be allocated a title, and for the current position subsequently to be stored together with this title. In this way, it is possible to automatically detect position data for points at which a user of a vehicle-based or freely portable navigation system has stopped for a certain period in order, for example, to take a break or to make a purchase.
In order to avoid detecting every random short stop whilst travelling or, when using a portable navigation system, while out for a walk or rambling, it is expedient if the current position, together with the title, is stored only when the stop lasts for longer than a predetermined time period, in which case the predetermined time period is adjustable.
Particularly when using the method according to the invention in a vehicle-based user unit of a navigation or road information service system, in order to avoid detecting the locations of all the traffic-related stops, resulting, for example, from traffic lights, level crossings or else traffic jams, an advantageous development of the invention provides that different, adjustable values can be selected for the predetermined time period for identifying that a vehicle has stopped, depending on the operating state of the vehicle, in order to distinguish between a traffic-related and a voluntary stop. The operating state of the vehicle can be detected, for example, by checking whether the engine is running or the ignition is switched on. If the ignition is switched on or the engine is running, that is to say the vehicle is not parked, then the predetermined time period is set to a long or very long value, for example to infinity, so that it is possible to entirely prevent stops caused by traffic being detected.
However, if the intention is to enter all points at which a vehicle has stopped for a relatively long time, irrespective of the operating state, in an electronic travel log, then the predetermined time period can be set to a value which allows relatively long stops during a traffic jam to be detected and the associated position data to be stored, in order to detect not only the time and location of the start and destination, but also intermediate stops, and to document the journey in detail.
To make it easier to find stored position data, it is advantageous if the title which is stored together with the current position comprises the information which identifies the associated stop, in particular data which identify the time and the nature of the stop.
One particularly expedient refinement of the invention is distinguished by the position of a stop being stored together with the allocated title in a database of the circular buffer type, in which case, in the data base, the data for the oldest stop, that is to say its position and the information which identifies it, are overwritten by the data for the latest, that is to say the most recent stop,- if the number of detected stops exceeds the number of available memory locations.
In order to allow the stored data relating to the latest stop to be transferred in a simple manner to a user-defined personal address book, the invention provides that the stored data for a detected stop can be selected, and in that the position data for the selected stop can be stored together with a freely selectable title, in particular a title which can be entered freely.